# sheik vs shell

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### sheik
*noun · IPA /ʃeɪk/ · frequency rank #25,572*
The leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe.

### shell
*noun · IPA /ʃɛl/ · frequency rank #3,726*
A hard external covering of an animal.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheik-vs-shell